When it comes to innovation we often get hung-up on creating something completely new. While this approach is usually the most exciting, it isn't the only way to launch an incredibly successful product or brand. In other words, innovation doesn't have to come from invention. It can also come from ... more

It all started with niche companies like Seventh Generation and Method. A move to clean up the cleaners, as it were. To take the toxic chemicals out of cleaning products and replace them with natural surfactants that would do the job. Those entrepreneurial companies, and others, pioneered environmentally responsible cleaning ... more

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As consumers shift from a "I want" to a "We need" buying philosophy, your marketing needs to adjust, too. Here are a number of statistics and trends to get you thinking along the right News Enormous change has taken place in the US and global economies over the past few ... more

By Deborah There are three "R" words–retention, repurchase and referral–that can help your company survive and thrive during the "R" word that's plaguing our economy, the recession. As costs are chopped and expenses shrunk, companies must understand more than ever the importance of customer loyalty, word-of-mouth and the profitability associated ... more

By Lou I recently entered the world of weekend-fishing warriors during a side ethnographic project. The business parallel between the strategy behind the fisherman's lure selection and an organizations approach to effectively initiate change became immediately evident. My intrigue hovered around the success factor of each situation, catching a fish ... more

Walt Disney's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) was a project of grandiose scale and lofty ideal. And while Disney passed away before his project became reality, EPCOT offers marketers four key takeaways (maybe more) in how to define problems, build on success, maintain flexibility and overcome Walt Disney was ... more

TJX–parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshall's–has cleverly launched its first joint marketing campaign, per MediaPost's Marketing Daily article, TJX to Launch Joint Marketing for T.J. Maxx, Marshall's, Seek Shopping The advertising fashionistas chase down errant friends and admonish them for paying full price on their latest clothing purchases. In ... more

Oprah tweets, Ashton bests CNN, and even my hometown cops have an account. I'm talking about , of By this point, you are likely well aware that Twitter is a big deal. You know that it is more than a bright and shiny new toy. You know that it's a ... more

Here are some takeaways on a speech by C. K. Prahalad speaker at the World Innovation So we are beginning to see the impact of current economic crisis. The bad news is there is going to be significantly more regulation in the future but the good news is there is ... more

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the High-Tech Marketing & Sales Get to the Po!nt newsletter from MarketingProfs. This once-a-week guide is specifically intended for marketing and sales staff in the high-tech field. If you wish to opt out, just click on the link below. But if you like what you read ... more

Community .... the cultivated group of loyal users that you've built your platform around and equally, have helped you get your site to where it is today. Many of them have been through the same ups and downs that you have gone through; the outages, feature releases, issues, and the ... more

Whether it's due to constant stability or tweaking the site's functionality, Twitter has constantly found a way to irritate it's unusually loyal users. This week's dustup over Twitter suddenly changing which replies you can see has me wondering, how much longer will Twitter's loyal user base stick with the I've ... more

The hospital gown has been around for centuries. It's no news that the ill-fitting, dignity-stealing flimsy covering clearly needs an The problem is, the way products are designed and redesigned needs an over-haul as well. In the case of this hospital gown, The Wall Street journal, in this , outlines ... more

If anybody missed it, a few days before Earth Day last month, Pepsico FritoLay gave an interesting glimpse into its new packaging for its SunChips brand in a splash of TV ads. An empty SunChips bag slowly deteriorates on the ground before the viewer's eyes. The biodegradable bag is SunChips ... more

Takeaways on a speech by Dr Vijay Govindarajan speaker at the World Innovation When you visualize your strategic plans visualize your plans in 3 Box 1 - Managing the Box 2 - Forgetting the Box 3 - Creating the Most organizations over focus on Box 1! And strategy is really ... more

A business can easily charge more when a person super-sizes their meal. Yet it's not so easy for companies that charge more due to a person's size. And a company can charge higher fees for users needing more bandwidth when hosting multiple Web sites. But it becomes very tricky when ... more

Companies are still struggling to determine social media ROI. There are some quantifiable metrics that are being used to determine ROI such as keyword rankings, site traffic, conversion rates, sales, etc. However we're still missing a piece of the The reason why it's difficult for a lot of companies to ... more

As China slowly transforms its economy from dependence on exports to one driven by consumers, the emphasis will shift to retail sales. Indeed, with nearly $9 trillion lost in Western stock and housing markets since 2008, the world urgently needs a new consumer. Marketers–will the Chinese middle class be the ... more

Notes from a speech by Paul Saffo, Professor from Stamford University, the opening speaker at the World Innovation Any interesting change looks like an S curve .... except in Silicon Valley where it looks like a hockey stick The ghost behind the S curve is Moore's law .... i.e. the ... more

By Mark Ivey Sometimes I walk away from a conference with as many questions as answers. Such was the case at last week's Inbound Marketing in SF. Great speakers, great content, great ideas-- an idea-fest for social media types like me. But after the two day session ended, I couldn't ... more

Frozen food is a gamble if ever there was one. Sometimes you luck out and lunch is a 5-minute microwaveable miracle. And other times? You kick yourself for being so easily seduced by the scrumptious images on the package– since the product inside tastes less like those pictures and far ... more

When times get tough, enterprising small business owners rethink their strategies and MOs in order to survive and thrive. Apparently, the old "there's strength in numbers" has taken on a whole new meaning these days. A recent LA Times article points exciting possibilities if business owners–even competitors--are willing to break ... more

Frankly, it's just not a fun time to be a marketer. Those who have a job are fearful and waiting for the axe to fall and those without a job are struggling to secure one in a sea of rough competition. How can marketers prove their value during a * ... more

Here are some of the things that I did to get our website to the first page in Google search results for keywords that matter to us. I followed basic "white-hat" (ethical) techniques to get us there. It required consistent effort to achieve results. I hope you benefit from these ... more